Process of and means for forming wads and inserting them into cartridge shells



J. A. DIC'KERMAN ET AL Aug. 11; 1925.

' PROCESS OF AND-MEANS FOR FORMING WADS AND INSERTING THEM INTO CARTRIDGE SHELLS Filed Dec. 2, 1920 .3 shee i z's-sheetill" 4 Q INVENTORS v WITNESS l JOHN A. DICKERMAN AND MW. KW. .HERBERT v. LEGKIE.

. flMM ATTORNEY Aug. 11, 1925'. 1,548,845 J. A. DICKERMAN ET AL PROCESS OF AND MEANS FOR FORMING WADS AND INSERTING THEM INTO GARTRIDQE SHELLS Filed Dec. 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESS INVENTORS Jon)! A, ISIGKERMAN AND am i fi 4 HERBERT v. nncxm. BY 7 A'ITORNEY I I 1,548,845 'J. A. DICKERMAN ET AL PROCESS OF AND MEANS FOR'FORMING WADS AND. INSERI'ING THEM INTO' CARTRIDGE SHELLS Filed Dec. 2, 1920 s sheets-sheet 5- W1T1Ss Q INVENTORS JOHN A. DIGKERMAN AND .7 HERBERT v. mcxn.

v PatentedAug. :11, 1925" 1 JOHN A; DICKERMANyOF BRIDGEPORT, AND HERBERT? LEoKIE, or srnarronnj 001v;

'nncrrcu'r, Assrenons 'ro'BEMI V NGTON DELAWARE.

' PROCESS OFqAND MEANS FOR roRMm ARMS COMPANY, INC., A CORQP'ORA 'IIQN OF swans ANDVINSERTING rnnivrincrocimrrtinen SHELLS. I 1

,e fpn'an iiled December 2, 1920. SerialNo. 427339;

' Ton whom-it may:mmbewt;

r a Be it known that we, JOHN A. DICKERMAN and :HERBERT V. LECKlE, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively,- at Y Bridgeport, in the oounty-ofFairfield and '7 State of Connecticut, ancl'at S'tratford, in

the county of Fairfield and State-0f Connecticut, have'invented a certain new and I useful Improved Process of'and Means for v d-Forming Wade and Inserting Them Into .Cartriclge Shells,,of which'the following is a specification. i 4

1 :Uniformity of velocity-and'patternisan essential ,Lrequirement; in shot fi l cartridges. Yelocity' and pattern are afl'ected byv many factors; among which arethe thickness,

1 1" density and weightof the wads usedandthe Quantity of the shot load and powder load, a @upon how firmly the powder is "packed. in

: cri r rp ifih QP' d--eV adsfl1 ar er foregenerally been stamped from sheetsot card board, felt, paper jii'eltg or other suitable sheet material. As these sheets vary greatly in thickness the; wads made therefrom vary aocordi'ngly' -As four or five wads are; generally' used in. veaeh shot 3 cartridge, such errors in; thiekn ess' may accumulate "and be- 7 come sozie xcessive thatlthe powder willbe ,packed too tight or t IOO lOOSQZ. or the-crimp be o sher 9 'e 1 01 91,; e lti i p e hibjitive variationsingvelocity and pattern. a V Inordertocompensate somewhat for vari ations-ii wad thielrness' it has;been customary tei 'ia"erim ie -i lwh sh is'lill'ldel pring pressure so thatit will bear upon the shell no more than a certainprecleterniined pressure.- :Infsu'ch cases if the-wads ia'retoo I 2 thick the crimp will beshorter than required j and theshell will come out too long; if too I thin the" crimp is toolongand the shell too short. :This willjresult inthe clouble objec- '..tion of irregular ,1 vcrimping and excessive i variation inshell length: f

i .5 "It isanobject of this invention to form 'wads from a supply of wacli'naterial in such a way that, they I will be of uniform I f thickness irrespectiveof variations; inthe isheet qmate'rial:from which they may be 6- made. "To this end it is-anjobject to provide a re us S 7 of t ming ad y;.- e ine thefcartridge' andv upon the extent offthe V .knife 11*,the 'c'uttingedge of which cooper- ;atesfwith theltop edge of the collar 10@and servesto sever a proper thickness of wadf irom the wad material 18in the tube 8. i

wad of appropriatethickness, from der ofwad material which maybe of con 'tinuous construction or formed'of a large f number of relatively thinv wads preferably stamped from sheet material; 9A further object is to sever such wads while' 'under I a pressure approximating the loading f pressure. A further object is to provide'meanslfor carrying out such process.

The varioussteps of-the;processfinl its f Y P fe ed; f r a d me n ,fo icarryi "out such process ls shown' n the aecfomp 'ingi'drawings, wherein:'.* Y Fig; 1 is a side elevationpartlyl in ection of the means for carrying out the 151160; ess showing a measured thickness d of wad material in the wadmeasuring and carrying I means, ready to be severed, Z 1' Fig. 2 shows the wad, severed, V v e F'gpg shows the severed'wad movedin position for placing the wad in a cartridge, Fig. 4 shows the wadinserted intothe cartridge, I j shows thewwacl measuringfand. rylng means returned to its origin with the severing knife forward, t y Fig.5 6 is"a plan view ofja preferred' forin of severingknife. i 'i In said'drawin gs the numeral a suitable'base as the bed,'plate pflaima- 1 "chine, aprefer'a bly vertically disposedfwacl fmat'erial supply, tube wli-ichfrn'ay besuppo ed in a fixed positionwith respectto the ed v plateiby a collar 9.; The numeral 'IO 'indi' {1' "Gates a collar which may "servefasffa' inan s for measuring the length of wad'frnaterial s to be severed andfor carrying thewad -tlo a V position whereitmayib'e inserted in the car;

tridge'. It is preferablyslidably .iiiount'eil on the top surface of thebed plate .7 p

cent said collar 10 is. a in suitable. severing";

This knife maybe supported by any suitable means as the knife guide 12 and'oper atecl i by any suitable means as a link l3. I'After the wad has'be en severed it is carriedbyf the cq'uap o into alinemen'twithanopeningyl5 iin the bed plate which opening registers with a cartridge 16 and with a wad placing punch 14 as shown.

The steps of the process and the operation of the means for performing the process are readily understood from the drawings. For example, in Fig. 1 a measured quantity of wad material is present in the collar 10. The knife 11 is retracted and the punch 1a is in its upper position. In Fig. 2 the knife has moved forward and severed a wad-19 of a proper thickness. In Fig. 3 the collar 10 has moved into registration with the opening 15 while the knife 11 has remained forward and is holding the remaining wad material in place. In Fig. i the punch 14 has moved downward and placed the wad 19 in the cartridge. Tn 5 the'punch is shown in its upper position and the collar 10 has returned to its original position. The knife 11 is continuing to support the wad material 18. .Upon the retraction of the knife 11 the wad material 18 will move downward thereby placing a proper quant-ity of wad material in the measuring collar 10, whereupon the parts have returned to the position of Fig. 1 and the cycle of operations has been completed.

In view of the tenacious nature of certain wad materials it has been found necessary to provide a special type of severing knife, 3. suitable form of which is illustrated in Fig. 6, wherein it is shown as formed of a rectangular bar of metal having a sharp point 20 and cutting edges 21 running back from the'point. These cutting edges are produced by forming the beveled surfaces 22 substantially as shown. It has been found that a knife of this kind will be very effective for this purpose and is also well adapted to lift any remaining wad material and support it' while the collar 10 is away irom its normal position.

'The wad material 18 may be in the form of a continuous rod formed in any suitable way, but it ispreferablymade up of separate discs of wad material stamped from sheets. Such discs will vary greatly in thickness and also in hardness. Some of the wads are so hard that they will be compressed only sli htly under the loading pressure while others areso soft that their thickness may be very much reduced. For this reason wads which are of the same thickness before loading may vary greatly in thickness after loading. To overcome this variation it has been found desirable to place a weight 20 upon the wad material in order to insure proper feeding and to compress the soft wads to approximately the thickness they will assume under loading pressure. The

weight 20 should be of a size so that the pressure on thewad material caused thereby approximates the loading pressure. As the wads severed by the knife 11 are of uniform thickness when under a pressure approximating the loadin pressure it follows that the wads will be or uniform thickness when loaded into the shell.

Having thus indicated the nature of the invention and the preferred means for carrying it out, we desire to claim as new and secure by Letters Patent of the United tates:

1. The process of forming a wad which comprises placing a quantity of wad material under pressure and severing a predetermined length thereof.

2. The process of forming a wad from a quantity of wad material which comprises placing a part of said wad material in a measuring collar under pressure and separating the material in the collar from the remaining material.

3, The process of forming a wad which comprises placing a quantity of wad material composed of separate discs in a collar and severing a predetermined length thereof.

l. The process of forming a wad and loading it into a cartridge shell which comprises placing a quantity of wad material under pressure, severing a predetermined length thereof, placing it in registration with a cartridge shell and inserting it in said shell.

5..The process of forming a wad and loading it into a cartridge shell which comprises placing a quantity of wad material under pressure, severing a predetermined length thereof, placing it in registration with a cartridge shell and inserting it in said shell under approximately the same pressure. V V

6; The process of forming a wad and loading it into a cartridge shell which comprises ph cing a quantity of wad material in a tube, positioning a measuring collar under said tube, dropping a predetermined lengthof wad material into said collar, severing a portion, removing the severed ma.- terial in the collar into registration with a cartridge shell and inserting it therein.

7. The process of forming a wad and loading it into a cartridge shell which comprises placing a quantity of wad material in a'tube,'positioning a measuring collar under said tube, dropping a predetermined length of wad material into said collar, severing a portion and inserting the severed material in the collar into a cartridge shell.

8. The process of forming a wad which comprises placing a quantity of wad material composed of separate discs of varying thickness in a collar and severing a predetermined length thereof.

wad material and means for severing the measured portion.

10. Apparatus for forming awad which comprises means for measuring a length of wadfmaterial, under a predeterminedpres-v sure and means for severing the measured and constructed to receive wad material therefrom, and means for separating the wad material in said collar from the wad materialsupply and inserting it into a car 12. "Apparatus for comprises ,a Wad material supply tube,@ a

and constructed to receive wad material a therefrom, means for severing the'wad material insaid collar from the wad material supply, and means for inserting the severed wad material into a cartridge shell.

13. Apparatus for forming a wad which 7 forming a wad. which comprises a wad material tuhe,'-

means for. placing wad material therein under pressure, a measuring collar in" align-- 25; 1 wad material therefrom, and, means for ,7

ment therewith and constructed"to-receive separating a length of wad material predetermined by the measuring collar from the wad material supply jandinserting it into r I I v a cartridge shell.

14, Apparatus for forming a wad which comprises a wad material'supply tube, a,

measuring collar in alignment therewith and constructed to rece ve therefrom wad ma:

I terial composed of separate discsof varying 'measuring collar in alignment therewith? i thickness, means for severing the'wad material in said collar from the wad material supply, and means for inserting the severed wad material into a'cartridge shell.

HERBERTv. LECKIE. I 7

JOHN. DICKERMAN; 

